Lessons from the Best and Worst Student Team Experiences: How a Teacher can make the Difference

Abstract

This study empirically identifies which teacher-controlled (contextual) variables have the greatest impact on whether the student will have a great team experience or a miserable one. The results indicate that the clarity of instructions to the team, the longevity of the team experience, and self-selection of teammates all positively affect team experiences. The level of management education, the team size, and the percentage of the course grade associated with team performance did not differ across best and worst team experiences. Contrary to previous empirical findings and conventional wisdom, the use of peer evaluations was negatively associated with good team experiences. Further insights from the data and implications for the use of student teams are discussed.

A Survey of Research in Field-Based Education: A Summary of Process, Best Practices, and Lessons Learned

“…The following section reports both. See Bacon et al (1999) for a report on best practices and lessons learned in general management capstone courses. Often an author will identify a critical success factor or best practice as a result of a lesson learned (risk); as duals of one another, it is sometimes difficult to separate the two.…”

An intensive software engineering learning experience

“…al. [2], random allocation creates equal chances of teams being functional or dysfunctional. In two of our rounds we deliberately allocated members randomly hoping to create a fair number of dysfunctional teams.…”

Visual modelling and designing for cooperative learning and development of team competences

“…Students could select their team members themselves rather than being assigned to a team by the instructor. We chose to allow for selfselection of teams, because students tend to prefer this setting and report better team experiences when being able to selecting their team members (Bacon, Stewart, & Silver, 1999). Complete teams could sign up on the e-learning platform and receive a virtual team workspace.…”